CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION

1. General Business: Review of Minutes: After reviewing the February 1^st minutes and some clarifications, Al Moraska moved to accept the minutes of February 1, 2001 as corrected. Ed Stone seconded the motion and it was approved with a vote of 3B0 with one member who had not been there and 3 members absent.

In the February 15^th minutes, the name of the presenter for the Senior Center was changed from Peter Coleman to Wally Gates. There were some phrases Jim added for clarification and a word change in Item 11. The neighbor who spoke at the Wicker Estate part of the meeting was believed to be Mrs. Horsford but she had not signed in. Ed Stone moved to approve the minutes of February 15, 2001 with corrections as noted. Al Moraska seconded the motion and it was approved, 4B0 with 3 members absent.

2. Discussion about proposed Town wastewater system: Charles Russell said the engineers said they had designed with cost in mind, so there are no 8" force mains.

Charlie said some folks had inquired about adding houses to the system along the way, but this can=t be done since it is a forced main. He said if people eventually do get hooked up to the system there would be a separate line going behind the houses. Jeff said it might be possible to do this in the beginning for a pressure system, but everybody would have to buy into that system.

At this point, Charlie said, the system is designed for just the municipal buildings. There will still be two backup holding tanks. Ed Stone said because of the high water table the tanks are floating upward.

Jeff noted there is one 8" gravity sewer but 4" lines going to it. The pump station will be in the corner of the green with shrubs hiding the section. Ed Stone verified that there is $190,000 available to do this.

Jeff said he was pleased that there is a possibility the children=s center and other buildings could later get hooked up. The pipes are sleeved to protect the wells. He said from his experience this is a great design, with adequate size of pipes.

Phelps Engineering designed this to go up to 6500 gallons. The town uses 3000 gallons, 2100 for the senior center and they estimate 1000 for the rest of the buildings. Charlie said for the purposes of getting this done, they are avoiding the political impact of asking for too many add-ons because if they add the book store and the Brick Store, the people will ask why they don=t also add the Citgo station and others until soon the capacity is exceeded. These things will be considered separately, later on.

3. Findings of Fact for Burrill: The members reviewed this and it was agreed that the way Dean wrote them is what they had agreed on, ready for Jeff=s signature.

4. Administrative approval of Charlotte Senior Center revision of septic plans: Members reviewed the summary of what had been presented at the last meeting and agreed with this for Jeff=s signature.

5. Kingston application: This is a Sketch Plan Review for a subdivision, for Lot 4. They intend to give that land back to the Town and they need to establish a right of way. They have tried to map a road that takes into account the grade of the land. The goal he was describing, he said, meets the >less than 10%= grade required by the fire department. The challenge was to find a flat enough area to make the turn and come in on the steep part of the hill at an angle. They moved the road down from the original plan in order to protect the viewshed and now this right of way is taking a more gradual approach.

Ed Stone was asking about location of the tree line. They do want to preserve a large maple tree. Linda Radimer asked if they had talked about using the fence line to minimize the impact on the trees. She suggested having the right of way go across the higher ground, but then it would be visible to the main road which was to be avoided.

Linda pointed out an area where there are turkeys and other wildlife. Chris Kingston pointed out that her option was much too steep and lengthy. He said there is a stand of birches and beeches they want to save, and the thin, more brushy trees would be cut. There is a 40' right of way, but the path certainly won=t be 40' wide.

Chris Kingston said in order to get through the gifting process they need to have their attorney draft a right of way. If the Town wanted to utilize this in some capacity to extend some other road up there, because the road is there it=s up to them. The intent is to have the parking continue to be at the Old Lantern.

This is a subdivision modification dividing off a lot that is not a building lot. For lot 4, which is being given to the Town. Dean said the subdivision Bylaws say it is only on lots of 25 acres or more that they don=t require septic designs for.

Jeff asked how we craft the approval for this since it is not a building lot. The Planning Commission would like to classify this as a Minor subdivision rather than a Major since it isn=t a building lot. They want to ask the town attorney=s opinion and put language in the deed and the approval.

Dean said the driveway required administrative approval by the Planning Commission. It doesn=t have to be a warned hearing but it should be an agenda item. The people who previously looked at this, he said, didn=t see a topographical map of the layout.

Ed Stone said they had approved and voted on this before, and the motion said the chairman of the Planning Commission would give administrative approval. Jeff agreed with this but asked Chris Kingston to bring in more detail on March 15^th. They can do the driveway and there is a conceptual approval of the right of way. The road will be 15' within the 40' right of way. They will submit this drawing (which already has the stakes depicted), draw in the road, for Dean and have him review it with the Planning Commission.

Al said we need to get the attorney=s opinion about the classification. Dean said since the Kingstons are gifting the lot to the Town it is believed the Selectboard will waive the fee even if it is classified as a Major. That would normally be $1500.

Chris Kingston was advised that on April 5^th if an application is submitted in time we could have the preliminary, then the final could be done May 3^rd. Stuart Morrow would probably be asked to zoom the map up to 1" = 100'.

6. Estate of Beebe Wicker: Choppy Wicker and his sister, Maria Wicker came back in for modification of their approved subdivision. They said they felt strongly about the size of the building envelope.

Choppy said they hadn=t checked to see that the plan they gave to the Planning Commission before is exactly what the prospective buyers had in mind. Also, they felt strongly about the size of the building envelope.

It is Andrew Thurber and his fiancé who are going to be buying this, Choppy said, and Andrew has traveled here from Boston to be here and he is accompanied by his sister and his mom and dad. Jeff invited Andrew to come up and be part of this. Jeff assured them that it is not unusual to revise a building envelope because a buyer has a different idea.

Choppy said they are now asking for two more acres in the building envelope. When their mother died last summer, Maria decided that she would keep the homestead where their mom baked her bread. Their friends, Andrew and Kit don=t plan on building anything there for from three to six years so they aren=t really sure of the exact place they will build. But it=s either in the meadow or in the woods right next to it, but not exactly sure which place so they are trying to get a commitment that they can build something there some day and they need some flexibility.

Linda Radimer had walked the area with him this afternoon, he said. He pointed out the wetland area and location of a seasonal stream. Andrew has a strong desire to live in the woods. The road nearby has a lot of traffic in the summer to Cedar Beach but especially for the fishing access. If the house is put in the meadow there are 12 houses visible to them.

Choppy said the front part is more in the meadow. They wanted to keep all the setback requirements; 75' from the wetland and the stream. He pointed out on his aerial photograph the location of an old 1950's photograph of the meadow and sheep pasture, and Susie Horsford=s property nearby.

To Ed Stone=s query, Choppy said they want to preserve the meadow if possible and let targeted areas grow up.

Linda Radimer talked about this being an important area. She suggested balancing the building envelope by having a rotating patch cut in ten year periods so as to keep the wildlife trail available. Andrew said there is about 50 acres of woods already and feels they already have a good plan. If there is too much restriction they will force a house to be put in an area they don=t want to have. Andrew said they have had a lot of discussion about this.

Andrew said he is not sure the woods is a good place for a house; when he thinks of a home he thinks of a house and a small garage (no swimming pool and no clear cutting), perhaps a small garden. The intention was always that there were legal requirements and they always intended to adjust the building envelope within those legal requirements at which time they are ready to build.

Linda Radimer said the other building envelope hasn=t been looked at. Choppy said even if the open space requirement did kick in, we already have 80% of the land, no-build.

Andrew added that there are 24 acres of meadow and 50 acres of wood lot, where that is going to be more balanced. Choppy said he has observed a lot of traffic, Abut we have these woods now because we grew them, and now the animals come in here.@

Ed Stone said he believes the applicants are trying to do the right thing but his concern is what will happen with the next party. Choppy stated that they have had written into the deed, that if Andrew doesn=t want to keep the land he will have the chance to buy it back, before anyone else.

Jeff McDonald suggested that the building envelope be 100' from the wetland in case the wetland gets larger. Andrew noted that the requirement in the regulations is to have a setback of 50' and they felt they were compromising by making it 75'; he would like to go with what the regulation says. Linda Radimer wanted him to change it to 100' because of the wildlife. Andrew agreed to that.

Ed Stone would like to craft a motion that addresses what we have talked about, and Jeff said we can deliberate on it. Al Moraska: AMr. Thurber=s goals are noble and correspond with our goals, but our concern is with the next people.@

There was a deed discussion, and an agreement to modify the proposed building envelope.

Andrew thanked the members, and stated that his fiancé=s name is Kit Perkins, who worked with several members of the Planning Commission on the committees for the proposed Town Plan before she moved to Boston. She wanted to give her best wishes to us.

The matter is continued for deliberation on a revised motion to craft what we have discussed tonight. The approval will then be modified based on tonight=s discussion. Jeff said the Planning Commission will take time after this meeting to finish the deliberation and add to that motion some requirements that will kick in at the time of issuance of the permits.

Ed Stone moved to adjourn the meeting (9:25 p.m.) Al Moraska seconded, meeting adjourned.

APPROVED BY THE CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION ON

Chairman Date

O:\Planning Commission\Minutes\2001\cpc1mar2001approvd